Thunderbird Drive-In
3885 Jonesboro Road SE,
Atlanta,
GA
30354
3885 Jonesboro Road SE,
Atlanta,
GA
30354
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I never went to this drive-in. My brother went here with my cousin and saw that the manager who was a member of our church. What is funny is my church at that time did not approve of movies or movie theaters. Now my church has movie nights. Of course you will not see some of the stuff this place would play. I seem to remember this drive-in would play adult movies once a month.
Taken over by Cobb theatres in 1976 and closed 1979.
This opened on July 27th, 1962. Grand opening ad in photo section and below.
It has its own Facebook page
Home Depot AKA the Thunderbird Drive-in is located @ 3885 Jonesboro Road Southeast.
Some projectionists would simply drop reels,Stan.
I was told by theatre personnel that the first 70mm to play at the Thunderbird was PATTON (1970), probably on the first drive-in availability. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the only 70mm.
My first experience with Norelco projectors was at the Thunderbird. I was called as fill-in projectionist during an emergency situation. I had the guy from the previous night thread the first reel for me before he left, so I could observe when I arrived the next evening. Norelco machines were not user-friendly or especially intuitive. I also ran them at the old Georgia CINERAMA, after the twinning, and that was a mess of problems. I dreaded being cooped up with those machines.
Swell photos, Alonzo, but I’m not sure if the SUSAN SLEPT HERE (1954) and THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (1955) picture is from Atlanta. There were at least 10 Thunderbird Drive-ins across the USA. My memory is the Atlanta one opened circa 1962. I was in grade school, so I’m somewhat fuzzy on it.
I do recall in the early years, there were dusk-to-dawn shows each Friday and Saturday nights, usually four features, not necessarily themed together. One new one and three oldies.
The Thunderbird Drive-In was one big drive-in theatre! It was easily seen from I-285 at the Jonesboro Rd exit! Feel free to share your memories and enjoy the old pics as well.
Link to the Drive In ladder ad in the Atlanta paper on August 5, 1964. The blogger has also written up some of his memories of working at these places. Worth a look if you are interested in the drive in culture from 1970 – 1990.
View link
Booth was equipped with Norelco 35/70MM projectors. These had the variable speed motors which allowed the 70MM version of “Oklahoma” to be run in its required 30 frames per second speed rather than the normal 24 frames per second. I do not know if it was ever run here, probably not, but the operator was known to run the moives at the 30 frame speed if he wanted to go home early.
During its final years it was operated by Georgia Theatre Company and was managed by Mr. Earnest Crowe, a former manager of the Martin Cinerama downtown. This was a pick up for GTC and did not have a house for the manager on site as was their usual custom.
You could get a nice overhead view of the Thunderbird when taking off to the east or landing to the west, although this proximity to the Atlanta airport probably did not do much for the moviegoing experience.